The invention relates to chairs or supports, and more specifically to chairs in which the user's back and knees are supported with respect to the chair seat to enhance the anatomical, physiological and psychological support afforded to the user by the chair.
It is well known to strap persons into wheelchairs so that they do not fall out accidentally and/or cannot "escape" from the wheelchair to possibly do damage to themselves because of impaired physical abilities or otherwise. Such restraints can be in the form of belts encircling the waist, belts or other bindings encircling the upper portions of the torso, or belts or other restraints encircling the legs below the knee, etc.
Structures have been developed to allow a person confined in a wheelchair to be raised from a sitting to a standing position and to be lowered from a standing position to a sitting position. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,569,556 granted to Pillot on Feb. 11, 1986 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,623,194, also granted to Pillot but on Nov. 18, 1986.
A back supporting device which permits a wearer to sit in an upright position for extended periods of time without discomfort has been developed. Such a device can be useful when the user is in a sitting position. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,106 granted to Toso et al. on Sep. 27, 1988, incorporated herein by this reference to it.
The back support of the Toso patent is not conveniently usable by office workers, bench workers or others who could well profit from the support of the back resulting from the fixed positioning of the knees with respect to a back support, but who have to rise from this supported position and return to it numerous times during the overall period that they are primarily seated.
The Pillot patents, and the usual or preferred wheelchair restraints are not believed to be pertinent to the present invention.